February 20, 2017

Jeff and I got to meet Dr. Ray Mis at Lee's Market in Westport, MA during a recent taste testing of his Seriously Good Premium Ice Cream. When Jeff and I arrived, we got to sample some of the new ice cream flavors. Presently, they offer 5 different flavors of ice cream; Vanilla, Vanilla Flake, Chocolate, Chocolate Flake and Coffee. Even though I am a serious chocoholic, I tasted the coffee ice cream first, which was delicious and then quickly reached for my second tasting of chocolate flake. Jeff went with his all time favorite, vanilla and then tasted the vanilla flake. He thought both were creamy and very tasty.

So, how did we end up at this Saturday morning taste test? My story starts 10 years ago when I worked as a Senior Business Advisor for the MA Small Business Development Center. During that time, we had an innovation consultant named Elizabeth Pierotti of The Inventing Life. When we had clients who had innovative ideas they were looking to develop, we would have them book an appointment with Elizabeth. She was, and still is, amazing when it comes to bringing new and innovative products to market from concept to delivery.

Fast forward to January 2017 and I received an email from Elizabeth. She is working with Dr. Ray on his premium ice cream product. What makes this ice cream different from others on the market is the benefits. They use clean labeling, it's gluten free, non-GMO and it also contains fiber. Bet you didn't think you could get 5-6 grams fiber while eating ice cream?

Along with all natural products, one of the ingredients in the ice cream is organic agave inulin. By definition, organic agave inulin is -

"extracted from all natural organic blue agave, this powder is an excellent source of dietary fiber and acts as a prebiotic to support intestinal health."

Elizabeth knew I was a food blogger and asked if we might come to Lee's and try some of the ice cream since it is only available in limited markets. When Jeff and I were leaving they asked if we would like to take some home and give it a "seriously good" taste testing. We left with a pint of each flavor and over the past week, we have been devouring every bit. Between Jeff and I, he is more of an ice cream connoisseur than I am; he definitely ate more than me. But, I did have fun eating scoops of coffee and chocolate flake in the evening after dinner.

So, our review of the ice creams:

Jeff thought all the ice cream was delicious, he especially loved the vanilla and vanilla flake.

"If you can create a really good vanilla, you can corner the market. This vanilla is amazing."

My son, Stephen, thought it was really good. He loved the creaminess of the ice cream.

"I liked the chocolate flake the best, the coffee was good, too."

I really liked the chocolate and coffee flavors. Anything that brings my two favorites together is a hit for me. I loved the creaminess and intensity of flavor.

We can't wait for Seriously Good Ice Creams to be available near us. I know this is a family favorite that will never be around for long. I think it took us a week to eat 5 pints of ice cream.

It truly is Seriously GOOD...with benefits!

Note: A portion of the profits directly support the education of blind children. Friends Food Family is not being paid for this review.

January 26, 2017

After spending an afternoon cleaning out my pantry, I came across a bag of dried cranberry beans. Figuring I should do something with them, I looked for a few recipes using cranberry beans. Cranberry beans are small red beans which sometimes go by Borlotti Beans, Roman Beans or small kidney beans. I came across a Food Network recipe from Giada and thought I would try it. I have made Giada's Pasta e Fagioli soup and decided I would use the basics to the recipe and then add a few tricks of my own.

I started with a pound of dried cranberry beans and soaked them according to directions. I ended up with about 6 cups of beans when they were thoroughly soaked. I knew I had more beans than I needed but I was going to blend some of them to put in the broth. Adding chicken broth, more tomatoes and pancetta, the blended beans and additional kale, I had a delicious soup that is definitely worth trying. I also liked that I was able to make the soup fairly quickly after soaking and draining the cranberry beans the night before.

Follow along with these instructions and you will have a hearty soup in less than an hour. If you are a fan of the original recipe, I'd love to hear whether you like this version or the old version better.

January 08, 2017

Every year, I look for a new cookie to add to my many holiday cookies. This year, out of the 5 or 6 new cookies I baked, this Double Chocolate Sugar Cookie recipe ended up being the big family favorite. This cookie has wonderful chocolate chewiness with the perfect sugary crunch. I made the recipe a little different from the original and it still came out perfect. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did.

December 05, 2016

I happened to be looking for some holiday cookie ideas on Pinterest and landed on Sarah's website, Fantastical Sharing of Recipes. Since I was going through a job transition and was trying to get back into food blogging, I thought this was a great idea. Plus, who doesn't love baking cookies. As part of the cookie exchange, I was asked to make a donation to either Climates Animal Rescue or No Kid Hungry, which I happily did. Then, I would be sent three names and would be responsible to send each a dozen cookies. Finally, I am to write about the exchange with the cookie recipe and Sarah will put together a list with all the recipes. (Link is at the bottom of the story.)

I decided that I wanted to make some new varieties of cookies this holiday season so the hunt for a new recipe was on. I went through many of my cookbooks to see if I could find cookies that were unique but not too challenging. I have learned from many years of making cookies, sometimes the simplest of cookies are the ones everyone enjoys. So, I found three I was going to try: 1. Chocolate Biscotti with Dried Cherries and Pistachios 2. Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies and 3. Cardamom Raisin Snickerdoodles.

Fast forward - I made all three types of cookies. I figured once I tasted them, and had my husband and mother-in-law taste them, I would pick a winner. Into the box and out in the mail they would go. Issue - I liked the Chocolate Biscotti, Jeff liked the Cardamom Raisin Snickerdoodles and Althea LOVE, LOVE, LOVED the Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Now that I didn't know which cookies to send and a box that was just too big, I had to make some decisions. So, I packed all three types in the box and sent them off with a tasting of our favorite Andria's Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Almond Biscotti from Pavani of Cook's Hideout (Perfect with a cup of coffee, delicate crunch!)

Opa's Gingerbread from Kate of Kate's Recipe Box (Reminded me of the amazing gingerbread we ate in Germany)

These cookies were all amazing. It was so nice to sample them through the week as I normally had biscotti for breakfast with coffee, gingerbread as a mid-afternoon snack with hot chocolate and shortbread for dessert with a little red wine. I guess this is what cookie heaven is like.

So, just a little bit about the Cardamom Raisin Snickerdoodles. They are amazing, light and buttery with a holiday spice flavor. I love adding cardamom to recipes with apples and oranges so this was perfect. The uniqueness to this recipe is it has the feel of cinnamon and nutmeg, yet none are included. It's definitely a different flavor, pleasing and festive. I am going to add this to my cookie list this year. I'm actually going to try to add a bit of orange rind the next time I make them. I thing it would balance the flavor of the cardamom with the raisins.

Give them a try and tell me what you think. It could be the best cookie you make this season.

Thank you Sarah for putting this together. It's a lot of work but I am truly grateful!

Cardamom Raisin Snickerdoodles

(Adapted from Food 52 - Baking)

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour

1 cup of white sugar

1/2 cup of brown sugar

2 teaspoons of cream of tartar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon of ground cardamom

1 cup of butter, melted and cooled

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 cup of raisins

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, add the flour, sugars, tartar, baking soda, salt and cardamom. Mix until blended. Put aside.

In a small bowl, whisk eggs into the melted butter. Once blended, add vanilla and mix until blended.

Using a spatula, mix the egg and butter mixture into the large bowl of dry ingredients.

As the mixture begins to come together, add the raisins. Stir until the dough comes together.

In a small bowl, add 1/4 cup of white sugar and 1 teaspoon of cardamom. Mix together. You will be using this mixture to roll the cookies before you bake them.

Start making cookie balls approximately 1-1/2 inches in size and roll in the sugar and cardamom mixture. Place on cookie sheet.

December 01, 2016

Every holiday season, I have a set group of cookies that I make every year. I especially love my traditional cookies because they disappear the fastest. My belief is to create a solid list of traditional cookies and then throw in a few sugary surprises.

I like this choice of cookies because they all get eaten. There is nothing worse than arriving with a platter of cookies, only to be leaving and seeing many of them still on the plate. Believe me, that used to happen. I would spend hours on specialty cookies only to find all the traditional cookies would be eaten. The specialty cookies would be sitting very pretty on the plate and later, they would be in the trash.

This year, I was looking for some new cookies to add to my list and decided to try these Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies. I bought a bag of Butterfinger Bits and thought the taste would be good. I love crushed candy bars in cookies. It gives them a unique flavor. That's why I add Heath Bar Bits to my chocolate chip cookies.

The original recipe didn't have mini chocolate chips but I love a bit more chocolate with my cookie. I figured the mini chips wouldn't overwhelm the flavor of the candy. The recipe was easy and the cookies were delicious. They were crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy with flavors of peanut butter and chocolate. My mother-in-law, who lives next door, is my official taste tester. She's not a big candy bar fan but all she talked about was how much she liked the cookies.

I just bought another bag of Butterfinger Bits so I'm off to make another batch. I'm going to add them to my perfect dozen list and let's see how well these cookies do this season.